Friday:

Our soup with dinner last night was a new one for me: cream of mustard. It was different, but tasty. After dinner it was downstairs to pack...

This morning we had to have our bags packed and outside our cabin by 7:15, but we were both awake before our 6:15 wake up call, so that was no problem. It had rained heavily all night (as if the area needs any more.) that meant the long, steep flight of steps up to the street was wet and slick, making it that much more difficult for the staff to schlep all of our (heavy) bags up to the bus.

It was drizzling as we left Lyon, but shortly cleared up and the sun was shining again. We have a 3 hour drive through the countryside to Beaune, where we'll spend a few hours and have lunch - and possibly (finally) get in a little foo foo shopping?

At the rest stop I bought some more of those chocolate waffles, and a children's book Le Potager De Chloe.

Hospice tour was quite interesting. Built in the 15th century as a hospital for the poor, the benefactor wanted to make it a palace for them. In general they went there to die, and the ward included a spectacular chapel. The roof had very unique beams, intricately painted and opening into dragons' mouths on the ends. The building is known for its ornate tile roofs. In another section were beautiful tapestries and a polytych. Angelica was very knowledgable and explained the painting in detail.

After our tour we roamed around for a bit and had lunch on our own. During our stroll we came across a mama dog (looked like a border collie) nursing her seven 5-day-old puppies. We did a lot of window licking, and I did find a little something to buy.

In Beaune, some of our group bumped into some of the Grand Circle group that just left Paris this morning; they will be getting on 'our' boat later today for a trip in the opposite direction of ours. They were taken aback when they heard about our 'bus cruise', and I can only assume that will encourage them to appreciate their trip all the more.

We were grateful that it didn't rain on us today, but I was not the only one who wished she'd worn more layers and heavier clothes today.

This afternoon during the bus ride to Paris I read my new book. Martine had to help me with some of the words, but I did pretty well with it. (Of course the pictures were a big help!)

Everywhere were fields of canola - huge splashes of yellow! I will think of those gorgeous fields from now on whenever I see canola oil!!!

And ooh la la - our hotel in Paris is a four star hotel right on the Seine, just a short distance from the Eiffel Tower. We seem to be on the top floor...30 (us) and 31 share the same elevator button. AND our window looks out ntowards the ET! Yes, of course I took pictures from our window. :)

Our luggage arrived promptly, and we headed down to dinner in the hotel rather than searching for some place to eat.

There was a boy in the elevator in a robe and goggles, obviously heading to the pool, so I went with them to check it out. His mother was pretty steamed when we got there and they wouldn't let him swim... You have to be 12! I asked about a hot tub and was told floor 28 - but I never found it.

Leo joined us for dinner, and we noticed many others from our group had the same idea. The food was very good, although the service left a lot to be desired. If it's that bad at breakfast tomorrow we might need to head down at 6:00 am if we hope to finish by 9:00, when our city tour starts.

I made a trip to the nearby ATM (we forgot to exchange some dollars for euros on the ship this morning, and this hotel does not provide that service) and before returning to the room I walked on the bridge across the Seine and took some pictures. A quick stop at the concierge to borrow an adapter and find out about logging on, and finally able to relax in my PJs in the room.

Now it's Saturday: i had difficulty logging on so unable to post last night. Hopefully I can get some help with that when we go down to breakfast.

Mom had some technical difficulties
with the shower last night, and I had some (different ones) this morning. But all's well that ends well